"Blessings" by Laura Story is a new favorite song of mine. The depth of her lyrics are all the sweeter because I know the story from which they were inspired. In fact, I knew her husband before a brain tumor hospitalized him in 2006. Before this tragedy, he was on staff with the college ministry that led me to Christ. Laura Story's faith was put through the unexpected fires of fear and loneliness as she watched her husband suffer; most young newlyweds don’t imagine their spouse being kept alive at one point by breathing machines or having to find their way through significant post-operative vision and memory loss.
“Life is filled with things you don’t expect, but the Bible tells us to respond by trusting God and continuing to worship him,” Laura begins. “Martin (my husband) hasn’t received complete healing—and that can be hard at times when we view God as all-powerful and all-loving. But here we are now saying, ‘Yes, this is how faith works.’ God has proven to be faithful. We have been truly blessed out of a circumstance that at first didn’t seem like much of a blessing at all.”
Singing and teaching in churches across the United States, Western Europe, and South America, she believes “we have a voice that wasn’t there prior to this suffering. I can hardly begin to tell you of the hundreds of hurting people we’ve prayed with, people going through more than we have. This is a chance to share the gospel.” (http://www.laurastorymusic.com/bio)
The lyrics of her song sting to the core and comfort all at once. Truthfully, I don't love to suffer or have my desires go unfulfilled or experience loss. However, it is a comfort to know that these temporary unpleasantries are God's mercies in disguise. The object of our hope makes all the difference. Hope is desire, expectancy, anticipation of something that will come. It's a fixation on something worth waiting for, and even worth suffering for. Titus 2:13 says we are "waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works."
True and lasting hope is only found in Jesus Christ. When we pray, our prayers should be for that which draws us closer to Christ. When we long, it should be for the heavenly. When we hope it should on the confident expectation that Christ is coming again and will make all things new. And for now, He is "a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19). Hope in present sovereignty and future triumph!
WHY? Because when we put our hope in objects of comfort, peace, protection or in people or in feelings, we will eventually crumble along with collapse of those things. Put your hope in Christ and the loss of these things won't shatter you to pieces. He is "a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" and when all else fails, He remains. All else pales in comparison. I've said too much...read the lyrics below. Let the words bless your heart.
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home,
It's not our home
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise
No comments:
Post a Comment